TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara will take delivery of the first batch of advanced S-400 air defense missile systems from Russia by late next year.

“The first batteries will be delivered towards the end of 2019,” Cavusoglu told reporters in the Belgian capital city of Brussels, where he was attending the 29th formal meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states, presstv reported.

The top Turkish diplomat stressed that Ankara must acquire the sophisticated Russian-built air defense missile systems, irrespective of objections from the United States and some NATO member states.

“We can understand the technical part. For example, it is normal for them to ask whether the S-400 recognizes NATO, NATO systems or allies as an enemy. We are also sensitive to this issue. We have already laid down our conditions in this regard while making the purchase,” Cavusoglu pointed out.

Last month, a former high-ranking Turkish military official said his country’s decision to purchase S-400 missile systems from Russia was the result of a decline in relations between Ankara and Washington, and a response to US threats.

Retired Turkish Air Force Lieutenant General Erdogan Karakus told Russian Sputnik news agency that the increasing expansion of Russo-Turkish military ties would influence the balance of power in the Middle East, and could possibly prevent further crises in the region.

“In the wake of uncertainty about the shipment of US-made F-35 jets to Turkey, Ankara is looking into alternatives for military cooperation. The main choice is to further strengthen our military relations with Russia. At the same time, Turkey is working on developing its own jet, but we are facing Britain’s opposition to the matter,” Karakus noted.

“We will not just buy the S-400s and place them in a storehouse. We will use them if need be. These are defense systems. What are we going to do with them if not use these defense systems? Are we going to depend on the United States again? We have been demanding them for years, but the answer given to us has been: The [US] Congress is not allowing. We are tired of this,” he said in remarks broadcast live by private Turkish-language TGRT Haber television news network in June.

Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said in the Turkish capital Ankara in early April that they had agreed to expedite the delivery of S-400 missile systems. The delivery is expected to start between late 2019 and early 2020.

Turkey’s English-language Hurriyet Daily News newspaper reported in late December last year that the loan deal for four S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries had been signed in Ankara.

The developments came only two days after Sergey Viktorovich Chemezov, the Chief Executive Officer of Russian state corporation Rostec, told the Kommersant daily newspaper that Russia would supply Turkey with four batteries of S-400, worth $2.5 billion each, and Moscow was expected to begin the first deliveries in March 2020.

Chemezov added that Turkey would pay 45 percent of the cost of the agreement up front, while Russia would provide loans to cover the remaining 55 percent.

The S-400 system, whose full name is the Triumf Mobile Multiple Anti-Aircraft Missile System (AAMS), is an advanced Russian missile system designed to detect, track, and destroy planes, drones, or missiles as far as 402 kilometers away. It has previously been sold only to China and India.

Turkey is striving to boost its air defense, particularly after Washington decided in 2015 to withdraw its Patriot surface-to-air missile system from Turkey's border with Syria, a move that weakened Turkey’s air defense.

Before gravitating towards Russia, the Turkish military reportedly walked out of a $3.4 billion contract for a similar Chinese system. The withdrawal took place under purported pressure from Washington.

Ankara’s ties with its Western allies in NATO have been strained over a range of issues.

Erdogan has been critical of Washington for supporting Kurdish groups in Syria that he says are responsible for terror attacks inside Turkey.

The Turkish leader has also slammed American officials for rejecting his requests to hand over Fethullah Gulen, a powerful opposition figure living in the US, whom Ankara accuses of having masterminded the July 2016 coup attempt.

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